Free Republic

The measure would have required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of a clinic. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Louisiana's tough restriction on abortion violates the Constitution, a surprising victory for abortion rights advocates from an increasingly conservative court. The 5-4 decision in which Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the courts liberal justices struck down a law passed by Louisiana's legislature in 2014 that required any doctor offering abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. Its enforcement had been blocked by a protracted legal battle. Two Louisiana doctors...

GLENDALE, Calif. - A federal judge struck down a city law that bars day laborers from soliciting work at curbsides, an advocacy group said Tuesday. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund sued the city last year on behalf of a group of laborers on claims that the ban violated their constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge S. James Otero agreed, ruling Monday that the ban currently against solicitation from streets and curbs could be misinterpreted as also a ban from sidewalks. "The vagueness of the ordinance is likely to chill permissible speech," he wrote in an 11-page judgment. Glendale...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A 2003 law intended to help minorities win government contracts and employment was struck down Thursday by a superior court judge because it conflicts with Proposition 209, which bans consideration of race and gender in public employment, education and contracting. Sacramento County Judge Thomas Cecil issued the ruling after Ward Connerly, the author of Proposition 209, filed suit shortly after the bill was signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis in 2003. The law, AB 703, was intended to allow government agencies authority to only perform outreach in order to help minority or women-owned business gain...